Big Bend Slider Trachemys gaigeae  (Hartweg, 1939)

Taxonomic Comments:

Powell, Collins and Hooper (1998 A Key to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. University Press of Kansas, Lawrence. vi + 131 pp.) recognized this evolutionary lineage as a distinct species. Seidel et al. (1999 Herpetologica 55: 470-487) provided more evidence for the specific recognition of this taxon. Seidel (2002 Journal of Herpetology 36(2): 285-292) provided further evidence that this taxon is a distinct species and placed the Nazas Slider, Trachemys scripta hartwegi (Legler 1990), of Mexico as a subspecies of this lineage, thereby creating the nominate race T. g. gaigeae in the United States. Standard common name for both species and nominate subspecies is Big Bend Slider. Stuart, James N. (2002 Bulletin of the Chicago Herpetological Society 37(11): 197-199) pointed out that the printed date of publication for this species was in error as it appears in the CNAH list by Collins and Taggart (2002). The correct date is 1939, and is herein corrected for the web site version. Users of the CNAH list may wish to correct their printed copies.